StephenRh

This one is straight out of the DwarfLab. 100 15s subs.

I have just purchased one. I'll let you know how I get on.

So one night I am merrily observing away and then I feel my fingers are sticky. Bit of dew perhaps? Or is there a decaying humbug in my pocket? Looked with the old red touch and couldn't see much of anything, but then dabbed with a white tissue. Blood. My blood! Nothing a clean up and sticking plaster wouldn't solve, although the tube had some nice red "go faster" stripes on inspection the next morning. The culprit was the retaining screw on the RA remote control - the head had acquired a sharp edge, which I duly filed off. This then got me thinking about the mount supplied control knobs (EQ5 Skywatcher). On the Dec axis I have the knob at one ned of the spindle and the remote control at the other. But with the RA axis, the remote control will only attach on one side of the spindle - it fouls the part of the mount on the other. But the control knob itself will not fit on the other side of the spindle, as the amount of spindle projecting is too short. So thinks I, let's have a close up look at the spindle and see if it can be centred to solve the problem. The answer is it can't, but in taking the spindle off I had to remove the RA motor which I dropped and broke the cable connector. Now superglued back to some kind of working order. On putting the remote control back on the spindle, the retaining screw head decided to break, so I had to drill the shank of the screw out. By now my dander was very ,much up, so off I marched to my local hardware shop (think Fork Handles but with contactless payments) and purchased some grub screws of the requisite dimensions. They work a treat. I have also ordered another set of remote control handles so each axis will have one either side of the spindle. All good fun eh?

Thanks all. Much appreciated. Half the battle is knowing it is possible!

Had a good night last night. M42 very clear, Jupiter and moons similarly. But could I find these Messiers? Using equipment as below (plus a Telrad). Any advice? It was clear enough to just make out M42 without any optics, so good visibility.

Had a good look at Jupiter - with an 11mm plossi and 2*barlow got a lovely view - but gosh how quickly it moves through the FOV at that magnification! Found M13 but it never really resolved much beyond a distinctive smudge of light - was using about 75x power for best effect. Similar situation with M92. However was not at my usual spot and there was a lot more light pollution but worth an hour or so in the pleasant warmth of the evening.

Clear night here until around 1 am when low clouds started to come in. Very nice view of the Dumbell - M27, then got some lovely views of Saturn and Jupiter. I still can't quite believe that Saturn's rings and Jupiter's moons are visible with just a bit of glass and some mirrors.

Exactly. He just has not thought this one through.

Who is this James Webb? Is he a member of this forum, and if so what equipment is he using. He is getting some half decent results, but I think his collimation may be a bit out.

A nice clear night and despite Mr Moon being in the wrong place (again) got a good view (first time) of M13 aka Hercules Great Globular Cluster.

Nice cloudless sky near me. Set up about 23:00 and got telrad/ finderscope/tube lined up with Vega. Had a nice view of Albireo (JUST visible with naked eye) then down to Altair. To get to the dumbbell M27 I needed to find gamma sagittarius. Not visible with naked eye but found it with a a bit of tetrad hopping. A bit more tetrad hopping to 14 Vulpecula and just spotted a smudge in the eyepiece. Popped on a nebula filter and there it was - M27. Waited/faffed a bit (nice view of Capella) then at 00:30 saw that Gamma Sag was now visible to the naked eye. So back to M27 which was now much more obvious. Given a clear night tonight, I might try to photograph M27 and Albireo (with camera, camera lens and star tracker). I am fairly new to astronomy so was quite pleased to have seen M27.

Lucky enough to be on cruise to the Canary Islands this coming Christmas with the opportunity to visit Mount Teide and the Teide observatories. Any body else done this?

Yep. Products are priced according to local market conditions - if a company can sell for more they will.

Fun is ….. scratching my head about poor image quality THEN taking the lens cap off.

The night started out promising but then cloud began to encroach. Had a fair view of Procyron and Canis Minor. Unfortunately Leo wasn’t playing ball. Regulus was clear enough but Chertan and the Leo Triplets were obscured by cloud. Ah well

I would have a nice cup of tea and boldly go for the new ones. Then have another cup of tea.

A nice clear night here so I took the opportunity to test drive my new acquisitions - a Telrad finder and a Baader Hyperion Zoom. Very pleased with both! Orion was very prominent around here. I was very impressed with the Baader Hyperion and the Telrad made finding the Leo Triplets (almost) a cinch.

Capella last night. 130PDS with Olympus OM5 iii camera. No tracking but took 25 sub 1 second exposures and Siriled them. Nothing brilliant but I like it.

Yes it is.

I use the Horizon 8115. Agree - very solid but not too heavy.

Clearish night last night so after a hard day on grandpa duties I snuck out and had a good look at the Pleiades. Attached quick snap with OMD 5 (iii) attached to the 130PDS.

I am very new to astro-imaging but I have found Siril, especially with the help of various on line tutorials, not too bad to pick up. In addition I use GIMP for additional processing.

First clear(ish) night in ages and got good views of the moon then turned my attention to Orion. Got a good view of the Trapezium and the M42 nebula. I am still a little amazed!

I am just getting started on my astronomy journey. Very happy to be part of this forum and getting such good advice. I am interested in seeing what's out there and astrophotography. Lots to learn but that is part of the fun. Attached a shot of the moon taken using a camera phone held over the eyepiece.

A great original post and lots more useful advice. Thanks to all.